It is really good to have an extra baseplate be it with rods or not to mount the camera on in the first place. The baseplates allows you to mount additional stuff like noga / "magic" arms that can beused for stabilization. On the Scoopic i.e. mount one side of the arm on the base plate and the other one on the accessory bracket on the top of the camera.

Handgrips can be mounted on the 15mm rods. Theres some inexpensive stuff on ebay but if you can afford it buy some good stuff from a more local manufacturer.